An American View of the RNA Penrith Conference 09

At the Penrith conference this year the attendees were lucky enough to have the pleasure of US author Jodi Thomas in their midst. She presented two sessions which were brilliant and those lucky enough to be there will have taken away valuable tips from a pro. We asked her to share her experience of attending and RNA conference. Her thoughts follow:

Once in a while it’s good to step out of your comfort zone. I’ve been writing and selling since 1987. I’m in the RWA Hall of Fame (in twenty years there has only been twelve admitted). I’m the Writer-in-Residence at one of the biggest universities in Texas and I rarely walk into a group of writers where I’m not recognized. Two years ago, that happened in England . What fun! I felt like I was just beginning.

Then, this year something even better happened. I returned and was greeted like an old friend. Tom and I had been wandering around for almost a month and when I walked into RNA I felt like I was home. All of you do have an accent I have to listen closely to understand sometimes, but you are writers and that makes us sisters. I find the longer I write the harder it seems to be for me to talk to people who are not writers---and I’ve decided people who do not read are lower life forms entirely.

I wish I’d had time to visit longer with so many of you and if you ever want to come to Texas, we have a Writing Academy June 14-18, 2010, that will change your writing life. If you’re interested e-mail me at jthomas at mail dot wtamu dot edu.

Oh, I almost forgot, while I was on the way home my editor flew from New York to Washington DC and picked up National Readers Choice Awards on both my books last year. She said she thought I as the only writer, ever, to win in two categories. TWISTED CREEK won best Main Stream with romantic element and TALL, DARK AND TEXAN won best Historical Romance.

Happy Trails to you all and thanks for the wonderful welcome.

Jodi Thomas